Megaladon tooth with a cusp?

Perico · Nov 20, 2013

Found this in Florida. I meant to post this a while back. Has anyone seen one with a cusp? If you look closely you can see the start of one on the other side as well.

Harry Pristis · Nov 20, 2013

In MEGALODON: Hunting the Hunters, Mark Renz asserts on pp. 99 that:

Throughout the Miocene, [megalodon] had cusps as youngsters. It is not until the Pliocene that [megalodon] were born without cusps.

I don't have a better source for that idea; but, it is true for young great whites, based on my own collection.

Perico · Nov 20, 2013

Great to know! The bad part is I think I have that book. Thanks!

Harry Pristis · Nov 21, 2013

Perico said:
Great to know! The bad part is I think I have that book. Thanks!

Well, I helped Mark edit his book, so I should be more familiar with its contents than most readers.

Ninjafossils · Nov 21, 2013

Yes. Either that or it could be a small C. Subauriculatus

Perico · Nov 21, 2013

I'll look that up. Thanks!

Perico · Nov 21, 2013

I've been out with Mark a few times when I first started. He is a lot of fun and a wealth of knowledge as well. It is a great book. I need to look at it more. It has been a while.

Harry Pristis · Nov 21, 2013

If the tooth is from the Peace River, it won't be anything but megalodon.

Richard Hulbert (Ed.) in his THE FOSSIL VERTEBRATES OF FLORIDA (2001) sums up the situation with megatooth sharks as well as anyone. He points to research that says that the type specimen originally labeled as Carcharodon auriculatus is actually another species, C. subauriculatus.

Depending on which authors you go with, C. subauriculatus is synonymous with C. angustidens or C. sokolowi. Hulbert favors sokolowi, following Case and Cappetta (1990).

Sooo . . . Florida auriculatus teeth apparently are something else, but it is not certain yet (2001) which is the correct species name under the Rules of Nomenclature, pending more study of morphology. And, I wouldn't be surprised if some other reorganization appears.

If you wish to adopt the Hulbert-Case-Cappetta species name, Carcharodon sokolowi, I believe that it is acceptably pronounced SO-KO-LAW-VI, recognizing a Russian taxonomist named Sokolov.